I wrote on here about this a few years ago, speculating about the potential behind the scenes influence of the multi million pound documentaries that are becoming the norm. I said it at the time Amazon were making one about us. The presence of camera crews and infiltration of a retail behemoth was apparently deeply concerning to Poch and one of the core reasons everything collapsed for him in the end. At the end of the day, these corporations have more money than they know what to do with, more legal and political clout than is healthy and have no interest in producing good football. They want good TV, that's it. Mourinho's arrival at Spurs was an absolute gold mine for them. Would it really surprise anyone if in X years from now a panorama exposed not outright bribery but certainly not so subtle lobbying and pressure on officials and others involved in the game to do anything necessary to create more of a spectacle, less of a sport? I've worn this tin foil hat since Mark "look at me everyone" Clattenburg openly admitted to reffing the Spurs v Chelsea game in a way that would hand Leicester the title but through the most dramatic collapse possible on the part of Spurs. Am I blaming him for us losing the league title? Of course not. But do I hold him responsible for allowing the game to get so out of hand that 2 of our players picked up injuries and Dembele received a 6 match ban for poking Costa in the eye (i.e. the ban Mane DIDN'T receive against Everton); a ban that led to our slow start the following season which in turn led to us again missing out on the title? Yes, I blame him directly. The 'Liverpool Quadruple' narrative is absolute TV gold and it wouldn't surprise me if certain conversations have taken place in certain quiet corridors to remove as many obstacles as possible from its path. Nothing obvious, just subtle things like allowing constant cynical fouls and never sending players off. Notice how Robertson's foul on Emerson in the home fixture went to VAR who upgraded it to a red, yet Fabinho's assault on Son doesn't even get a review. You have to wonder why. What has changed apart from the plausibility of an historic quadruple? And for all the arguments that Pool 'deserve' it; yes - they probably do. I've praised them and Klopp's work to the skies on here. But that is what makes sport so addictive. Sometimes what is 'deserved' doesn't end up happening. Sometimes the unexpected or unpredicted happens and things turn out differently. And it is this unpredictability that is steadily draining from the sport. Most of Europe's top leagues are a cake walk for usually one, sometimes two teams. PSG fans were so underwhelmed by their recent title victory that they even staged a walkout with 15mins still to play and boycotted the full time celebrations. That is madness and tells you all you need to know. So in the absence of true competition, drama needs to be created through other means. You still get it in the CL, as epitomised this past week, but domestically there isn't much left to get excited about.
Have to say I agree. Back in the 90's when you won The Treble it meant something. Each and every domestic trophy as much as the CL was earned. Now it's all fixed. It's a disgrace quite frankly.
nah, the blatant favouritism is bit more spread around the top 6 rather than all focused on the one club.
Really? You're saying that after the reverse fixture at WHL? Mate, you are demented. No wonder you completely made up the THREE CRITERIA!
Gutted we didn't take it till the last game of the season. Couldn't believe where we made up 13 points from a 14-point gap in four months. Now it looks like our legs are going. Not fancying the FA cup on Saturday, unless we completely give up the league now and rest players on Tuesday. Sponk.
It was all still relatively raw then compared to the slickness of today. More than a decade, probably when Roman came in. And throughout their time only one club tried to buck the trend and keep the domestic game honest by breaking the new money corruption, and that was the glorious MUFC. Of course the powers that be didn't like it and put their full weight behind trying to destroy our legacy and look where we are now. They'll make a film about it one day. Now it's about as bent as watching Giant Haystacks sitting his fat arse on Kendo Nagasaki.
haha weird, that's twice that's come up this week, was chatting about it in the live chat on the stream I watched on Wed.
Do you remember Paul Hewson, poster on the original BBC 606? Used to do a never-ending diatribe almost weekly about how all European Cups before '68 didn't count, and all after '76 didn't count. Really meant it too. And how it only got better when two teams who came second in their leagues fought the greatest final in '99. The goalposts moved more than Ray Wilkins ever did.
Did he mention both were fighting for the treble or something. I was never on BBC 606 mate. I was on the Skysports forum before they closed it down. There were some equally deluded nutters on there n' all
Funny that Kane not being given a red at WHL led to days of media crying but the BBC ain't mentioned it on their website and didn't show it on MOTD...let alone analyse the incident...they could at least pretend to be impatial/or consistent ffs
What crying? Truly don't remember that. Not on here anyway. Shearer said it wasn't even debatable (it wasn't), but the focus of crying was on the non-pen, but more specifically the preposterous idiocy of the ref saying afterwards that it was Jota's fault for standing still before shooting. ****er deserved to be wiped out by a defender getting nowhere the ball if he did that.
